Travis Roach
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ECON 2103 - Principles of Microeconomics

Business 212; TR 2:00-3:15
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​This course emphasis is on theories of the firm, value and price determination, and functional distribution, with the application of these theories to the problem of particular firms, industries and markets.

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econ_2103_syllabus.pdf
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​​Section I - Thinking Like an Economist and The Basics
   Introduction, Economics defined
   Positive vs. Normative
   Production Possibilities, Economic Systems
   Determinants of Supply and Demand
   - Movement vs. Shift (Seinfeld)
   Market Equilibrium and Comparative Statics
   Consumer and Producer Surplus, Deadweight loss, Price Floors and Ceilings
   - Listening: Planet Money: Big Government Cheese

Class activities: Minimum Wage
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  • ​Minimum Wage Study
  • Econofact: Do Minimum Wages Really Kill Jobs?

Section II - Applications of Supply and Demand, Elasticity, and Utility                     
   Elasticities: Price elasticity, Income elasticity, Cross-price elasticity, Elasticity of supply
   - Practice Problems
   - TEDed Lesson: Price-Elasticity 
​   - NY Times, Price increase for prescriptions
   - Labor supply elasticity example: Google driverless car program  
   - Listening: Freakonomics: Why Uber is an Economist's Dream  
   Total Utility, Diamond Water Paradox, Marginal Utility
   Budget Constraints, Utility Maximization, Applications to Signalling
   - Listening: Choose one of the two podcasts to listen to
      - Should We Really Behave Like Economists Say We Do?
      - Are the Rich Really Less Generous Than the Poor?

Section III - Production, and Perfect Competition
  The Production Function, Economic Profit, Production Inputs
   - value of the marginal product: Lebron and Steph Curry version (ESPN)
  SR vs. LR, Cost Functions
  The Firm: Economic costs, Profits, and Production
  Perfect Competition, The Profit Maximizing Rule  
  Price Gouging
  Economies and Diseconomies of Scale
  Long-run Competitive Equilibrium

Section IV - Review, Applied Economics
  Industrial Organization - Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, and the Efficiency of PC 
 
  Potential Applied Topics
  Labor Market Discrimination - Schelling's Tipping Model, Gender Gap
  International Trade - Gains From Trade, Specialization, Import Fees and Quotas
  Game Theory - Nash Equilibirum
  Sports Economics - Introduction to economic research
  Environmental Economics - The Coase Theorem, Externalities, and the Tragedy of the Commons






















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  • Home
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • CV
  • Current Classes
    • MBA 5910 - Game Theory
  • Media